L. J Hulla disclosed a faucet in his U.S. Pat. No. 1,504,623 including an outlet nose piece (23) rotatably mounted on a tubular outlet conduit (13) of the faucet, in that a projection or handle (31) may be held for rotating the nose piece (23) upwardly for spraying water upwardly for drinking or other purposes.
However, such a conventional faucet may have the following drawbacks:
1. For providing an upwardly flowing water, the nose piece 23 should be rotated upwardly for a user's drinking or for rinsing his (her) mouth. Then, the nose piece 23 should be rotated downwardly for discharging a downward water stream for washing a user's hands or other uses. Therefore, it is still inconvenient for turning the nose piece either upwardly or downwardly.
2. A water leakage may be caused at the coupling joint such as between the outer flange (25) and the inner flange (24), thereby increasing maintenance problem.
3. If for rinsing purpose by rotating the nose piece 23 upwardly for discharging an upward water stream for cleaning a user's face, for example, an outlet of the water conduit, having a same opening size for either an upward or a downward water flow, may not eject a water stream with high pressure, unless by partially shielding the outlet of nose piece for reducing its opening size or by increasing the boosting pressure of a water supply source. Such an upward water stream with low pressure may not be ejected so high to possibly influence a rinsing efficiency for the user.
The present inventor has found the drawbacks of a conventional faucet and invented the present faucet for discharging water stream either upwardly or downwardly.